(Mainly) beach miscellany

Using collages to "articulate" my trip to Brazil has been a great way of cramming more in, when I'm already running short of extra photos. Mostly these photos show the story of a couple of hours I spent on the beach over lunchtime, taking a number of photos to send to Mr A using the beach wifi (yes, there is everything, including loads of street hawkers, prawns, and showers). But it also includes a very big boat that came past the rooftop bar of the hotel later on (when it was much brighter and sunnier) and a final panoramic picture of Copacabana beach.

Inevitably, another long day. I walked halfway up the beach after breakfast (and catching up with blipping) and caught some protests which then seemed to morph into a protest rally in favour of the presidential candidacy of Lula (see extra). Then I went on to the beach for a couple of hours, but didn't swim as I didn't want to get salty and have to find a shower, because although V and F had offered me use of their room (I had checked out), there would still have been the problem of bringing soggy clothing home. I did have an epic plate of prawns....

Back in the hotel, I cooled down for a while before heading up to the rooftop bar where I met V and F, who had been up Sugarloaf Mountain, as F had never been there before. As ever, the views from the rooftop bar were great and included a number of big boats, helicopters, Sugarloaf Mountain cable cars and aeroplanes.

Then we headed out to find some Lebanese food, at Amir. Excellent. This is special for V and F, as their grandfather was Lebanese, so they associate Lebanese food with certain family experiences. They said the food rated very well when compared to "home cooked" Lebanese dishes prepared by their grandmother, their great aunt and their mother. So for once, Tripadvisor, when triangulated with the personal experience of Bb and Dd, did us proud.

Soon it was time to head off to the airport, with F staying in the hotel one more night before returning to Uruguay. We took an Uber, and the driving was truly horrendous. Not a pleasant experience. We had a long queue to get through passport control. Normally, you don't have to queue a long time to get out of a country, only in.... And then by a quirk of fate, we ended up with priority boarding, as in Brazil there is a law which provides for this for the over 60s! We were amongst the first half dozen on the plane, which helped with stowing the hand luggage. Our departure was fine....a few minutes late....but by that stage after beers on the beach, cocktails in the rooftop bar (see tomorrow's blip...), and draught chopp with the Lebanese food, I was kinda mellow....